Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce The Big Apple, a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

"If it wasn’t/weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done” is a jocular saying that has been printed on many gift items, such as posters, mugs and T-shirts. “If it weren’t for the last minute, a lot of things would never get done” has been cited in print since at least 1978, when it was credited to Kirk Kirkpatrick.

21 July 1978, Register-Republic (Rockford IL), Earl Wilson syndicated entertainment column, pg. B6, col. 3:
REMEMBERED QUOTE: “If it weren’t for the last minute, a lot of things would never get done.”—Kirk Kirkpatrick.

25 October 1983, The Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Loom artist, craftsman weave pleasure, profit into partnership” by John Guernsey, pg. MS3, col. 3:
He glanced at a slogan on the workshop wall—“If it weren’t for the last minute, a lot of things wouldn’t get done”—and went back to building a floor loom of 600 parts.

20 November 1984, Philadelphia (PA) Daily News, “A year’s worth of hang-ups,” pg. 49:
Like “The other line moves faster,” “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done” and “If you have watched a TV series only once, and you watch it again, it will be a rerun of the same episode.”

Google News Archive
20 December 1984, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “How To...Coordinate A Large Holiday Buffet”, pt. 4, pg. 1, col. 1:
A sign hanging in the Murray kitchen appropriately describes how they do it: “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.”

Google BooksThe New Official Rules
By Paul Dickson
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
1990
Pg. 147:
Mel’s Law. If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.
— Unknown, Radio call-in show, New York, N.Y.

Google BooksThe 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said
By Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Fireside (Simon & Schuster)
2003
1,226
If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.—Unknown

Google BooksOver Goal!:
What You Must Know to Excel at Fundraising Today
By Kay Sprinkel Grace
Medfield, MA: Emerson & Church
2006
Pg. 50:
My secretary used to have a sign on her desk that said, “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done around here.”

Google BooksThe Speaker’s Quote Book:
Over 5,000 Illustrations and Quotations for All Occasions
By Roy B. Zuck
Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional
2009
Pg. 423:
PROCRASTINATION
If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.